Any hope for me?

Colleges and Universities A-Z College of William and Mary
1

<p>White female
Out of state from Alaska (does being from a less common state help for diversity?)
i go to a boarding school in Washington (state)</p>

<p>GPA: 4.64(W), we don't show unweighted
RANK: we don't rank
SAT: I know these are bad scores let me just say, I'm hoping that when I take it again in October I can score higher (1910: 640 math, 670 writing, 600 reading)</p>

<p>CLASSES: All of my classes have been IB in junior and senior years, in underclassmen years I took all honors classes
THIS YEAR: IB HL English, IB HL History, IB SL Math Studies, IB SL French IV, IB HL Biology, IB HL Film</p>

<p>EXTRA-CURRICULARS:
School newspaper- 4 years, Features editor in junior year, Editor-in-Chief and News Editor in senior year. Our paper has won Gold/Silver medals by Columbia's School of Journalism for high school division every year</p>

<p>Theatre-4 years, supporting roles in underclassmen years, leading roles as a junior, crew as a senior, won 2nd place at State festival for group performance</p>

<p>Community Service Activity- Junior and Senior year, Junior year led projects for blind/deaf organizations, Vice-President and Chair of Membership and Habitat for Humanity coordinator in Senior Year</p>

<p>After-school tutor-(work) in senior year</p>

<p>Writing Center tutor- senior year</p>

<p>Summer Camp Counselor-from summer-after-sophomore-year and all following summers</p>

<p>Student Government- Freshman Class Vice-President, Senior Dormitory Representative</p>

<p>Religious Council Member-Senior Backup-Crucifer for chapels and Episcopalian Representative</p>

<p>National Honors Society- sophomore year on</p>

<p>Honor Roll- all 4 years</p>

<p>Volunteer at retirement home-junior year</p>

<p>Student Events Committee- sophomore year on</p>

<p>I'm applying Early Decision and I was wondering if that could help my chances since my SATs are much lower than the usual OOS scores.</p>

<p>Thanks so much for your help everyone!</p>

2

<p>Glad you’re interested in W&M.</p>

<p>It sounds like you have a lot of great academic and personal qualities to share. W&M does try to build a geographically diverse class and coming from a less-represented state can be an asset as you’re able to provide a prospective few other applicants are able to.</p>

<p>The primary benefit to applying ED is that you’re in a pool of 1000, instead of a pool of 12,000+ so it’s easier to stand out ED.</p>

<p>Your SAT scores are a tad below our middle 50% range for out-of-state students (1380-1430 for Critical Reading + Math for OOS). These are not cut-offs but a middle 50% range. 25% of the OOS students we admit score lower than a 1380 but taking the test again is a good idea. We’ll combine your best critical reading and your best math into your best composite score. Just be sure to indicate that you’re taking the October test in the testing section of the app.</p>

<p>Remember that selective schools like W&M have more qualified applicants than spaces but they also don’t automatically reject or accept anyone based on objective criteria so you definitely have a chance but should be mindful that we are selective and our acceptance rates are around 32% (27% for OOS). Just go into the process with an open mind and level head and the proper set of expectations for selective schools but you’ll never know unless you apply.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

3

<p>Thank you so much for your response! I’m glad that I can at least hope… My cumulative unweighted GPA just came in and is a 3.61/4, my weighted cumulative is 4.5/5. Is that low for William and Mary too? I’m seeing posters with much higher GPAs…</p>

4

<p>In addition to the really detailed response from the actual admissions people…when I was a junior/senior, I posted all my stats and the schools I wanted to apply to and was consistently told that being OOS, I wouldn’t get in.</p>

<p>My SAT was a 1360, etc…but I applied ED and got in, so no need to worry about what the people on these boards say!
Just keep doing all that stuff you’re doing, and show a lot of love for it, and you’ll be 100% fine. plus, it’s really awesome that you’re from Alaska!</p>

5

<p>W&M doesn’t have an average GPA because every school calculates it differently and utilizes different scales so keep that in mind when you see GPAs thrown around in data or publications. We review the grades behind your GPA and look for primarily As on the transcript. We also use class rank as an indicator of how well you’re performg in relation to your school peers when rank is available. 80% of our students graduate in the top 10% of their high school class.</p>

6

<p>UPDATE: I just scored a 670 on Math, 610 on Critical Reading, and 670 on Writing. I’m a little disappointed that I couldn’t get my Critical Reading up a bit higher, but I’m pretty satisfied with my scores (since standardized tests have never been to my advantage). My best 3 sections are Math 670, Reading 610, Writing 670 to a total of 1950. I see that W&M does not consider the Writing section, but will it be recognized that I scored equally as high on the Math and Writing–just lower on my Critical Reading?</p>

7

<p>Our review still focuses on Critical Reading and Math and we really don’t consider the Writing Section as part of our decision-making process. We’ll see your Writing score but it will not be part of the Committee discussion.</p>

<p>Good luck on your ED application. We look forward to reviewing it.</p>